Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Grandma Days

I will very patiently ignore the mess on my desk to bring you this super great post about the past two Grandma days.

Wait....let me get some ice cream...

Alright, I'm ready now.

Grandma's second cousin, Betsy, came into town. So naturally, Grandma wanted to show her the sights. I was in charge of driving, and we also brought my cousin Laura along.

Sight number 1:Sight number 2, Grandma taking a break:The whole reason for sights number 1 and 2 were to get to this:The elephant seals. I like the elephant seals. So silly to look at and blubbery and such. And the beach is always very pretty, so it's usually worth the trip. I also am always impressed at how fine they are that everyone is all up on 'em. I would be like, "get your own space of beach, man. This is mine. Back up off." But not those elephant seals. They are all on top of each other rollie pollie style. Even when they fight, they fight on top of each other. It's an excellent example of community, I think.

While watching the elephant seals, I overheard a young boy, 3.5-3.75 years of age, I would guess, telling his dad, "Dad, those seals are WAY bigger than you!" His brother, of an unidentified age says, "Yeah, Dad, you are so small! Those seals are HUGE!!!!!" and they went on and on about how blown away they were that something was bigger than their Dad, and I don't think their Dad liked that much. He kept saying stuff like, "Yeah, I get it... they are big animals... jeez..."

Sight number 3: Betsy was a trooper, and was in charge of walking with Grandma from the car to the elephant seals.Laura and I scampered ahead, I got all the pictures I wanted, turned to see where Grandma was, and discovered that she and Betsy were still walking. They hadn't even caught a glimpse of those elephant seals yet. Please note Grandma's bright pink windbreaker. I bet she is kicking herself for giving away those checked pink pants to my mother...what a fabulous combo it would have made....

Sight number 4: I wasn't sure if I should include pictures of me as a sight, but I decided that I was part of this Central Coast experience, so why not? Please note that Laura and I are standing in front of the handicapped parking area. That's just how we roll.Sight number 5: Wineries. No, this isn't a good example of a winery. But after San Simeon, we took a drive out Vineyard Drive, so Betsy could do some wine tasting. It was the end of the day when I finally remembered to document this part of our journey with a snapshot, so... that's what you get.

I turned around and took a picture of this:

I'm not really sure if those buildings have a function.

The next glorious day we headed out to Port San Luis, to lunch at the Olde Port Inn. There will be no more "sights" from here on, just regular pictures. They would have been "sights" but Grandma didn't mention anything about showing Betsy the sights on this day, so we have to return to normal.

This is one of Grandma and Grandpa's favorite spots, so I have been here many many times.

And yet, I failed to notice that the guy who started the Olde Port Inn has the same last name as us:We should have gotten a discount.

For those of you who don't know, the Olde Port Inn is a restaurant, not an Inn, at the end of this pier:There are a few awesome things about the Olde Port Inn. First, you get to drive out onto the pier and catch a view of this:Well, Laura and I aren't always there, but this view usually is:Second, at some of the tables at the Olde Port Inn, you can look directly down into the ocean.We always hope to see a starfish or seal, but today we got a duck. I've never seen a duck down there before. I tried to get a good picture of it, but I don't know if I succeeded.

Third, the view from the table is phenomenal. I turned off my flash and scored this nice picture:

And then again I got this picture:They keep their windows really clean here. I wanted everyone to know that I was actually inside a building while taking those scenery shots, so I thought it might be a good idea to get a picture of myself with that same background. I tried a few "nice" smile poses, but hated them all, so I ended up with this:Laura at lunch:

Laura and I are clearly cousins as we have the same head-tilt inclination.And really, who could pass up a great photo op with Grandma's glasses?

Not us.I think it is important to note at this point in the story that it was ridiculously hot on the coast:

It was mentioned that Betsy would like to put her feet in the Pacific Ocean, a brilliant idea if you ask me. So Grandma said that would be a good idea. We could all go, but Grandma would just sit on a bench somewhere. This meant we had to go over to Avila where is was wicked crowded. There are no benches at Port San Luis of course, but plenty of parking. As we are driving by Port San Luis Grandma asks why we don't stop there, and I say because she needs a bench. She agreed with me.

So over to Avila we go, and there isn't a handicapped parking spot to be found. We "discussed" our options. We could let Grandma out, take her to a bench, and then go find parking a million miles away. Grandma wanted to pay for parking, I told her no way would we pay for ten minutes of beach time, so Betsy just said to let her out and she'll run and put her feet in the ocean and then come right back. Grandma commanded that we go back to Port San Luis where there was plenty of parking. So I went.

We get there and park and Grandma says, "where's the bench?"

"There's no bench Grandma."

"What?! No bench?"

"Nope."

"Well, I will just wait in the car."

"It's over one hundred degrees."

"Roll down the windows, and leave the keys in."

"Okay, but you can't let anyone steal the car."

"No, no no, you just go."

"Are you sure you are alright?"

"I'll be fine here with my book."

"Okay, we'll be back in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes, is that all?! Stay longer!"

"Okay, bye Grandma."

So we left her.The beach was gorgeous that day. Simply gorgeous, and the water felt so good. I wanted to run right in fully clothed but decided against it.

I'm not sure what is happening in this picture, maybe the wave was going to get her? I don't know.After about twenty minutes we returned to the car. As we reach the road, a woman says to us, "Does she belong to you?" and pointed at Grandma whilst giving us disappointing looks.

"Umm.. yeah."

And we walk to Grandma.

Apparently, the heat was too much to bear for such an old woman, and just as we were walking up, Grandma had engaged the help of that woman, for Grandma needed help exiting the car and crossing the street and motioning to us to come back. We got all settled into the car again and got reprimanded for taking too long on the beach.

WOW that was a long post, but very informative. It sounds like overall you guys had a great time even if silly Grandma did think she could just sit in the car when it was 106....and then somehow it was your fault...humm..maybe you should consider building one of those off-roading wheel chairs like the had at the beach on saturday.